“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts”.
Melissa Gillian Marsden is a freelance journalist and PhD candidate at Curtin University
Melissa Marsden is a self confessed political junkie, writer and a regular contributor with online publications including Independent Australia; the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Missing Perspectives and Women’s Agenda.
She is currently Special Correspondent at abilityNEWS owned and run by
former ABC Foreign Correspondent Nic Stuart.
In 2024 she conducted an internship with Film Director and Disability
advocate Sarah Barton at video-on-demand website Disability Busters
where she engaged with content, writing reviews for the monthly newsletter. She is currently a board member of Australian Disability Ltd.
Melissa has a keen interest in and regularly writes about a range of issues including disability, feminism, inequality as well as political and media biases. Melissa believes journalists and the media must shine a light on the structural inequalities in our society that place people, like her, behind the eight-ball.
Melissa has several degrees in Politics, History and most recently Journalism from the University of Adelaide, and is currently undertaking research looking at media portrayals of people with disabilities and their influence on how society perceives people with disabilities. Through her academic and media contributions, Melissa has gained experience in both short and longform journalism.
Melissa was diagnosed with hydrocephalus at six weeks old, and at the age of six, suffered a traumatic brain injury leaving her legally blind, with short-term memory loss and mobility issues for which she uses a white cane. Melissa’s fight to be treated fairly and not be discriminated against has been a turbulent one.
This lived experience drives her current PhD research at Curtin University.
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